A year-long investigation has revealed that the widely circulated log transcript of communications between the doomed Titan submersible and its mothership was completely fake.
The supposed logbook claimed to detail the final communications between the Titan, which was attempting to reach the Titanic with five voyagers on board, and its mothership. The document was shared by millions online and caused widespread suspicion when released last year, with many questioning its legitimacy.
According to the New York Times, Capt. Jason D. Neubauer, head of the US government team investigating the disaster, believes the entire log is fake. Neubauer, who retired from the US Coast Guard and serves as chairman of the Marine Board of Investigation, said his team found no evidence that those on board the Titan knew a fatal implosion was about to occur.
“I’m confident it’s a false transcript … it was made up,” he said, as reported by the Times.
The logs, released by an unnamed author, claimed to reveal minute-by-minute communications between the submersible and the mothership. They contained realistic descriptions of what one might imagine would happen in the final moments before the vessel imploded, including technical jargon and acronyms unique to the submersible, which further convinced readers of its authenticity.
One part of the logs suggested the crew on board the Titan were in a state of panic, with hull alarms going off inside the submersible before communication abruptly ended.
Neubauer hopes the truth about the fake transcript will bring some comfort to the families of the five men inside the Titan, assuring them that their loved ones didn’t suffer in their last moments.
The five men aboard the Titan included businessman Shahzada Dawood, 48, his son Suleman, 19, airline executive Hamish Harding, 58, and Paul-Henri Nargeolet, 77. Stockton Rush, 61, the founder and CEO of OceanGate — the company that built the submersible and ran its tourist dives — was also on board as the pilot.
On this ill-fated voyage, the passengers had hoped to reach the Titanic wreck some 4,000 meters below the ocean’s surface on June 18, 2023, when disaster struck.
Despite receiving warnings from both inside and outside OceanGate about potential “catastrophic” problems at extreme depths, trips to the ocean floor continued. On June 22, debris from the Titan was discovered near the Titanic’s resting place, and it was officially declared that the submersible had suffered a “catastrophic implosion.”
The fake transcript started circulating shortly after the debris discovery, with its wording suggesting the passengers were panicking.
